Chapter 18

The festival was winding down slightly, but not because it was ending. On the contrary, it was now starting to get serious. With the majority of people wandering up towards the hillside in order to get a good seat to watch the oncoming fireworks. Which meant less people enjoying the other festivities, but there were still some stranglers who seemed to care more about games than the fireworks.

Such as Robin and Blackfire. Who seemed to have hit several booths with…surprisingly less than ideal results. I had assumed that with Robin’s skills and Blackfire’s might that they could overcome the obstacle that was rigged against them, but it would seem the opposite.

And of course, wherever Robin and Blackfire went, Starfire went as well. Trailing behind them like a lost puppy. It was…well, pretty pathetic to be quite honest.

But to be quite honest, she was still the best option to talk to in the Titans. Blackfire and Robin were rather happy to be together, though for different reasons if I had to guess. Beast Boy had taken to the booth games too hard, and in the end lost all of his money. To which he then talked his way into being a side show attraction for several booths to earn back money.

I shudder to imagine how Beast Boy would react to a casino…

Kid Flash was also around here, but he was busy flirting around with every girl remotely in his ball park. And to his credit, he seemed to be pretty damn successful. Seemed like his terrible flirting skills was countered by his status as a hero and his rather impressive power.

Which left only Galatea, and she was someone who I was going out of my way to avoid. I got the feeling the strange out of order booths that were in pretty bad shape had something to do with her. And that if I got involved, I would be the one who would have to pay for it.

In comparison, Starfire was the only real choice.

She jumped as I bumped a cold glass bottle against her bare skin. She looked at me surprised before glancing down to my hands. Each of them having a glass bottle in their hands.

“Law? Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

I gave an amused smirk at that.

“Yeah, I can tell as much. Here. Got you a drink.”

Starfire nodded and picked up the bottle before observing it for a few seconds. Twisting off the cap of the bottle with a strength that made me concerned that she’d destroy the bottle altogether. Thankfully that didn’t happen.

She then gave it a small sip before her cheeks widened in enjoyment. Which quickly saw the majority of the bottle down her throat in seconds.

Well…that figures.

“Mmm! That tasted amazing! What is it?”

“Root Beer.”

“Amazing!”

Well…it was definitely something. I watched as Starfire’s good mood subsided a bit, as she glanced back towards where Robin and Blackfire had gone. So, it would seem my root beer trick had failed. Ah well. That just meant I had to switch tactics.

“So…what’s the deal with you and your sister?”

Starfire blinked at that before tilting her head in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Instead gesturing with my root beer bottle. Something that Starfire seemed to take in a different manner, as she easily grabbed it out of my hands before opening it.

Well damn.

“…Her and Robin? What’s that about?”

Once again Starfire downed the drink before fixing me with a look. One that was a bit embarrassed and sad. I also noted that she was not levitating slightly off the ground anymore.

“I…guess she has taken a liking to Robin. And he to her…”

This time I didn’t bother stopping myself as I rolled my eyes blatantly.

“Please. I’m being serious here Star.”

Once again, she gave me a confused look. Ah, so she was going to continue playing dumb huh? I rubbed my face before gesturing in the area where Robin and Blackfire had gone.

“Star, I’m asking why your sister is being cruel towards you.”

To this Starfire blinked rapidly, before fixing me with an almost indignant look. Even backing away from me slightly.

“My sister isn’t being cruel to me. This is just…how she is.”

Yes, Starfire had already told me a bit about her sister before she had even showed up. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough. How her parents doted on Starfire and her brother, but less so on Blackfire. Due to her being the…black sheep of the family.

I had assumed that Starfire felt guilty at how her sister was treated, and therefore was letting her get what she wanted. What I didn’t understand was why Blackfire was angry or upset.

But apparently…Starfire might just be blind to it. So maybe I just had to spell it out.

“She takes your clothes, your position on the team, your breakfast, the guy you like-“

“I don’t-“

I held up a hand to stop her. I didn’t care to hear her sputtering protests about who she did and didn’t like. That wasn’t the conversation that needed to be had.

“Anyway, she’s obviously annoyed about something. And considering she’s taking it out on you, I assume you might have a clue as to what that is.”

Starfire went to protest some more, but then paused. Looking down with a frown while putting her hand on her chin in a thinking pose. After a few seconds she started to hum a bit too.

“…Maybe-“

“Oh, sister! And Law! It’s nice to see the two of you.”

Blackfire waved as she approached with Robin, who was being pulled along with her. Robin seemed to be in a slight amount of pain, but it wasn’t dire enough for him to call out Blackfire. Not with his arm so close to her body, at any rate.

I could understand it. After all, Blackfire was pretty hot.

While I nodded towards Blackfire, Starfire on the hand opened up with a question.

“Hey sister, you wouldn’t be angry because I didn’t send you transmissions about how I landed on Earth and was now safe, would you?”

Blackfire paused. Her smile dropping as she stared deeply into Starfire’s face. The shock of her question seemingly getting rid of her façade for a few seconds, before she was all smiles once again. Huffing with amusement at Starfire’s question and lightly pushing her sister’s shoulder.

“What? No, that’s crazy. I wouldn’t hate you for that.”

‘for that’ being a rather specific wording there. Starfire relaxed before nodding along to her sister. Blackfire asked her where she got such a silly idea, and thankfully Starfire didn’t throw me under the bus. Instead, simply saying she was just being strange.

Starfire changed the conversation in order to ask where they were now going, to which Blackfire responded with the Ferris wheel. Apparently, they planned to watch the entire upcoming fireworks show at the top with it stopped. It had been Robin’s idea, to which Blackfire thought the whole thing was ‘romantic’.

Robin was rather bashful about the whole thing. To be quite honest, I was rather impressed. After Kid Flash, I was starting to think junior superheroes weren’t exactly the best at socializing. But that? That was smooth.

“Oh! I almost forgot to ask again. Do you know why mom and dad aren’t responding to my transmissions?”

Blackfire blinked twice before responding.

“I’m not sure. Perhaps you should ask them yourself later?”

Starfire pursed her lips at the idea, before nodding in response. Which saw the pair start to make their exit.

Me and Starfire waved them away, with Blackfire giving a rather satisfied smile towards Star, before looking down at her wrist. It looked like…some sort of alien tech. As it was changing forms every second, I’d say it was a watch. Or at least, it functioned similarly to one.

“See friend Law? She’s not angry with me at all.”

And I’d agree with that. Because it was made evident in that conversation that she wasn’t. No, Blackfire was pissed about something. Maybe Starfire stole her first crush and this was how she was getting back at her?

Ah well. I’ve stuck my head deep enough into this matter. It was time to pull out while the going was still good.

Oh right, the fireworks were about to start. And we did have a pretty sweet set up for viewing it…ah, what the hell. I’ll have to thank Robin after I’m done stealing his idea.

“Hey, Starfire. What to go watch the fireworks with me?”

She took a glance towards the Ferris Wheel before nodding in my direction.

“Sure!”

The area and hills itself was pretty close by, so it didn’t take long at all to get there. Especially when coupled with the fact that Starfire could simply fly over everything towards the spot. With me simply giving directions as she held my arms.

There were several nice-looking seats near our spot. It was damn near a perfection location one could find. A perfect spot to watch the upcoming fireworks. The seats were also nice and wide as well. Easily capable of sitting a massive fucker like Mammoth.

But even then, I hadn’t expected Starfire to take a seat next to me. We made light conversation as we waited for the festivities to begin.

“So…what are these fireworks?”

Ah, right. Alien. Hmm…how to put it…

“They are like an explosion of color and sound into the sky.”

I revealed to which Starfire seemed to frown at.

“That sounds…familiar, but I’m not sure why that would be a good-“

She was interrupted by the sound of a whistling noise immediately narrowing her eyes in the situation before back to me in a panicked way. I nodded my head as I relaxed.

“It’s starting.”

The sky erupted. Pink spots shined out before those exploded, revealing an umbrella shape as the fell downwards. Changing to blue as they fell to the earth. And then the next one went off.

Flares shot into the sky, before forming in the shape of a flower bud. Erupting and then growing into a fully formed flower before quickly fading and wilting out of existence. The colors dazzling my eyes with their brightness and beauty.

But that wasn’t what I liked about them.

No, I liked that they were loud. They wailed when they soared. Before exploding in a shower of colorful lights.

I have never been in a war. But I imagine that it was something similar to being bombarded by mortars and tanks. All firing in the distance and destroying everything in their path. A show of power that was blindingly brilliant. A chaotic cacophonic of colors…

And it was beautiful.

…Eh, that came off a bit unhinged, which wasn’t exactly what I was going for. But it definitely got the point across. At least I think it did.

I looked over to Starfire after a few minutes to see how she was taking it, only to see tears running down her face as she stared at the fireworks. Her lip trembling with emotion.

Immediately I was upon her. My arms pulling her in before I asked if she was alright in a whisper. She didn’t respond, instead simply clinging to me as she started to choke up.

“I-It’s pretty…”

Uh…Yeah? Fireworks were supposed to be...

It took some time for her to calm down. The Fireworks still firing off in the distance, but the moment was ruined by Starfire’s sniffling noises.

“I’m sorry, friend Law…”

I raised my hand to dismiss her worries.

“Don’t be. Besides, it’s not like I’ll never see something this beautiful again.”

Starfire paused, as she looked into my eyes. Her gaze illuminated by the explosions in the background. I looked down as her hand touched mine.

“Yes…earth is full of beautiful things…”

I continued to watch her as she stared into my eyes as I took her hand. Her body immediately leaning forward slowly as I did much the same. Until finally, there was no more space to move forward.

Another firework went off in the background as I kissed Starfire. I periodically cracked open my eyes to find Starfire doing much the same. I…didn’t exactly have a lot of experience in these things…alright, I didn’t have any experience. But what I did have was decent advice.

Which led me to pulling Starfire closer into me. This time making sure my eyes were closed as my hand grasped her back…

Until I was grasping nothing at all.

I looked up only to find Starfire completely gone. It took a few seconds and Starfire crying out for me to realize some sort of flying squid like machine was now pulling her into the festival.

For fucks sake.

Today just wasn’t my day, was it?